Lael Wilcox becomes fastest woman to cycle around the world, with route starting, ending in Chicago [Video]

CHICAGO — An American woman set out from Chicago to bicycle all over the world in record-breaking fashion.

Lael Wilcox is one of the most accomplished ultra-marathon cyclists of the last decade. For example, in 2016, she became the first American to win a big-time 4,200-mile race called the Trans Am, where she beat everybody.

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But, starting in her wife’s hometown of Chicago, on May 26, the Alaska native took on perhaps her biggest challenge yet: trying to become the fastest woman to cycle around the globe.

That involved riding 18,000 miles in less than four months — something she started thinking about last year.

“So, I thought, I better just do it, even if it’s scary,” Wilcox said.

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From the Windy City, she headed east, braving …